Billet

“Are you excited to see your family?!”
“More excited to get my car back,” he winked.
“Liar!”

The two of us were sitting in the back of my parents’ car bickering. We were on our way to a little Italian restaurant for dinner before Easton’s first pre-season game.

The first few days of school have gone reasonably well for both of us, but we were already excited for the weekend which was fast approaching.

A couple of minutes later, we were at the restaurant. Easton’s family was already sitting in a booth beside the entrance, so we quickly joined them.

Easton’s parents started to stand up, but his little sister, Brooklyn, beat them to it. She jumped up, clinging to her brother.

“Hey, Brooke, miss me a little?!” She nodded her head vigorously into his chest. He spoke to her for another moment, before saying, “Anyways, I better say hi to mom and dad before they get mad,” she laughed, “And you should go see Tierney over there,” he nodded towards me, “she had a little something for you.”

The little girl looked confused, but hesitantly made her way over to me as Easton was wrapped into a hug by his mom.

I knelt down to her level, and pulled out the shirt from my oversized purse. “So hopefully this fits...your brother isn’t very helpful and picking out sizes,” I laughed. “I work at Sportchek and they just started selling these and I just had to buy one for someone! I hope you like it!”
The little girl, suddenly seeming more comfortable, was a beaming. “It’s so pretty! Thank you!” She wrapped the coral dryfit shirt into her chest.
“Your brother said you like sports too, so I thought this would be good for you!”

Easton’s sister didn’t look much like him, but she was a gorgeous little girl. She was a tiny girl with long, straight blond hair and bright green eyes.

After chatting with her for another minute or two, we joined the rest of the family, standing at the booth.

“Hi Mrs. Parker,” I smiled, “It’s nice to see you again,” I spoke to the woman.
“Oh Tierney, just call me Emily!” She wrapped me in a hug, “Easton has said so many good things about you.”
“Oh?” I looked over at him and raised my eyebrows. He rolled his eyes in return. “Well I love having him around.”

Easton’s dad then joined us, giving my hand a firm shake. “Thanks for joining us tonight.”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure,” I assured him.

The waitress was at our table soon after, taking our orders.

After dinner, the group of us headed to the rink. Easton had left earlier, as coach required the team to be early. He took his car, leaving the Parker’s with one of their own cars (as they drove separately, bringing the car here). Both my family and his arrived at the rink together and we went in to find seats. Since it was a pre-season game, the arena was reasonably quiet, although there was a decent turnout. We sat along the blueline on the penalty box side, a few rows up on the visitor’s side. The six of us chatted until the game started a few minutes later.

The Blades were playing the Crestville Rockies. The teams aren’t in the same division and rarely play each other, so the game is expected to lack physicality and excess emotion. The Rockies aren’t expected to be a strong team this year; still rebuilding after a cup run two seasons ago. They are working towards their prime though, and will likely fall somewhere in the middle of their division.

The game was off to a good start, when one of the Blades veteran centers opened up the scoring five minutes in. The home team stayed out of the penalty boxes and played a relatively impressive game for a group only put together within the past week. Their passes were on-point and they seemed to have a sense of where one another were on the ice. They went into the first intermission up 2-0. Chad had scored the other goal.

Over intermission I talked to Easton’s mom about school and what we’ve been doing in our spare time. She was happy with how at home he seemed to feel and it put her a little more at ease. His family were hoping to visit a few times a month as most games took place on the weekend and they lived only a few hours away.

The second period brought a bit more physicality, but the players emotions stayed relatively intact, minus a fight taken by one of the Blades goons. Easton had also scored a goal within the frame, with Levi assisting. It was a superb passing play which led to a breakaway. The Rockies had scored one in return.

The third was a calm period, with little excitement happening on the ice. No one was able to score, leading the Blades to a 3-1 win.

After the game, my family showed Easton’s family to the dressing room, and let them have some time with him before they left. We waited in the concourse until they were ready to leave. I was hoping Easton wouldn’t get them lost like he did at school – oh wait, my bad.

We only waited for a few minutes before they walked up to us. We all headed to the parking lot and said our goodbyes to one another. My parents took their car back to the house while I rode with Easton. Despite it being a school night, and relatively late, they said it was fine that we made a pitstop.

As soon as we got into the car, we both looked at each other and spoke simultaneously, “Ice cream.” We both laughed and high-fived.

I gave Easton the direction to get to one of the local ice cream shops. It was shone brightly in the darkness of the night.

Chéri’s Dairy was a small place, but tens of people managed to squeeze in on a regular basis. It was the hottest, no pun intended, place around, despite the big name franchises found throughout the city. With its checkered floors, shiny counter and old fashioned appearance, it was one of the most charming places you could find. Whenever I visited, it always made me giddy, feeling like a little kid again.

Easton sized the place up as we walked in, and gave me an approving smile. We took a few minutes to decide what we wanted. I settled on a cheesecake ice cream while Easton went with some sort of chocolate mixture.

We took our cones and sat at one of the tables along the windowed wall. The seats were high so it took me a little extra effort to climb up due to my height, but I had pretty well gotten this down pat from my many visits here. I was a huge ice cream fan, and had discovered Easton was too, as we chatted on one of our jogs.

“Pretty sweet goal out there tonight, eh?” He smirked at me.
“Someone’s a little cocky, don’cha think?” I winked at him before saying, “But that was fucking beautiful!”

We talked hockey for a few minutes before changing our topic over to family.

“Your mom honestly seems like the sweetest lady. Could she adopt me or something?” I asked.
“I think she’d take you in without thinking,” he laughed, “And my sister said that you’re the nicest girl she’s ever met, so I’m pretty sure you’re raising their standards for me.”
“Pffft,” I scoffed, “Well I’m sure my parents would trade me off too. Maybe we should just swap?”
“Like that show wife swap? I remember watching that show!”
I nodded before replying, “Wait, you watched wife swap but you’ve never seen Mean Girls? Ugh, Easton, I’m actually going to kick out of my house.”
“But Tieeeeeer,” he whined, laying his head on his hands, “You’d be lonely without me.”
I rolled my eyes, “Luckily you make good company once in a while, loser.”

We stayed out chatting a little later than planned, losing track of time, but my parents were lenient when we returned. We said a quick hello before they headed to bed. I stayed up a little later, checking social media websites but was in bed fairly soon after.

The next day I found myself groggily walking into Biology. I made my way over to my seat and quickly sat down and laid my head on my desk.

“Someone’s a little sleepy?” Levi laughed.
“Easton and I decided to get ice cream after the game. First off, we were out late, and second I couldn’t sleep because I was high off of ice cream.”
“That’s a bummer.”
I nodded, “Eh, I’ll have things back on track soon. My team starts training camp next week so I really have to pull myself together.”
“Oh, you play hockey right?” I nodded, “I remember Easton mentioning it one time.”
I sat up from my relaxed position, glancing at the clock, seeing class didn’t start for a few minutes, before speaking to Levi. “Yeah, I’ve been playing since I was tiny. This year I’m in a league at a pretty similar level to you guys, but since it’s women’s hockey we have like three fans come out.” I laughed.
“Oh really? That’s pretty sick. What are you hoping to do after this year?”
I shrugged. “Just keeping my options open right now. I want to study athletic training or physical therapy; something around those lines. And hopefully keep playing hockey.”
“Considering the States?”
“Definitely. I think I’m good enough to get some offers from coaches, so I’ll just have to wait and see.”
He nodded, understanding the constant unknown future. “What about you? Obviously things are up in the air with the draft and stuff, but what are you hoping?”
“Fingers crossed I’ll get drafted into the NHL this year, but even then I’ll probably be back here next year. So I’m looking at the local schools and thinking about business right now. Obviously the goal is to play in the show though.”

Just as I was about to reply, the bell rang and our teacher started talking about cellular respiration.

Thank God it’s Friday.

“What do you mean I can’t come tonight?” I whined.
“Chad specified that it’s for bros only.” Easton replied.
“But you said I was a bro.” I pouted.

I was currently giving Easton a hard time about his “guy night” with the team, even though we both knew I had already planned to have a girls nights over at Amanda’s house.

“What do you even do at a guys night? Like you can’t paint your nails or do your hair... do you have naked pillow fights?” By the time I finished my sentence, I was cracking up.
He rolled his eyes. He had told me previously that they had planned to go out and play laser tag before getting some food and playing video games at one of their teammates houses.

I was the first one to leave, so I said goodbye to Easton and my parents, before driving over to Amanda’s house. I had been here countless times over the years and felt that her home was essentially my second home. I said hello to her parents, who were leaving as I was pulling in and made my way through her house without knocking. This was completely normal.

It was sort of odd that Amanda and are were friends. Although we did have some things in common, attending the same school, being the same age, some interest in fashion and makeup, we were completely different. Amanda was the loud and flirty girl. She could have any boy wrapped around her finger. And she pretty well did. I wasn’t overly shy, but definitely not as outgoing as Amanda. I got along with boys as well, but more so as friends rather than a relationship, likely due to my involvement in hockey. Although Amanda supported me with hockey, it wasn’t her thing. She’d come out to games, but would prefer to be doing her nails or baking. She made an effort for me which I appreciated and I tried to do the same for her. While I was interested in the sciences, Amanda avoided them like the plague, hoping to study something along the lines of sociology in university. Despite our differences, we were always there for each other since we were kids, I couldn’t see anything changing that in the future.

“Hey girls!” I shouted as I walked into the living room.

Amanda, along with a few of our other close girl friends were sprawled out across the room. A few were on the floor while a couple others were lying on the coaches. Some cheesy rom-com was on TV and the girls were either snacking or doing nails.

“Hey, Bree, toss me some popcorn!” I called to my friend across the room as I made my way onto the floor.
She threw a couple of pieces and I caught them all in my mouth. We both fisted pumped as a result.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” Amanda joked.
“Sorry, I was bugging Eas cuz he has his little team date thing tonight.”

The girls all “Ooooh’ed” forgetting about the new addition to my family. Although a few of them had brief conversations with Easton over lunch, none of them had talked to him a great deal. Aside from Amanda who always yelled to him when I had her on Facetime or speakerphone.

“He’s pretty hot,” Cali commented offhandedly. The girls mumbled in agreement.
“I heard he’s a really good player.” Julia added and I nodded in return. “Think he’ll go in the NHL draft?” I shrugged, it being early to tell but said if he continued to develop this year I didn’t see why not.
“So you guys get along well?” Mel asked.
Again, I nodded, “He seriously feels like my brother.”
“Any hot teammates we should know about?” Kiela winked.
I shrugged. “It’s all up to personal preference, but I think there’s a few cuties.”

They pushed me to look up some names on Facebook and we spent nearly an hour going through the roster.

“I need a break from this. I see these guys too much, let’s do something else.” I pleaded.
Amanda put in a new DVD and we all squealed as the menu for 27 Dresses came on the screen.

As we watched, Cali, who worked at a salon, did my nails for me. With hockey season quickly approaching, I wanted to take advantage of being able to look nice before all my blisters, calluses and bruises resurfaced.

After the movie finished, we gathered into a circle on the floor and started gossiping. We hadn’t seen each other much over the summer due to various work schedules and vacation plans.

“Liz, are you and your boy together?” Amanda asked offhandedly.
Liz sighed before replying. The couple had been on-and-off since grade 9. “Right now, no. He decided to be a dick and broke up with me before I went to Miami. You can see the trust level is great, eh?”
W all scoffed. “Just end it for good, please!” Mel begged.
The conflicted girl simply shrugged. “Anyways, can I request a change of topic?!” Nods answered her.

“So how about that advanced functions class?” Cali joked.
Most of the group, as they were in that class, groaned.
“Stop scaring me! I have that course next semester!” I warned.
“Good luck,” Bree said.
“It’s the first week and I’m already lost,” Kiela added.
Mel laughed, “Just pray that Mrs. Freidman retires by then!”
“Thanks God for the humanities! Fuck math and science!” Amanda winked.

We stayed up chatting into the early hours of the morning.

I loved being around these girls; it was so refreshing. Although I loved my sport and dedicated much of my life to it, I was still a teenage girl and needed late night gossiping, painted nails and junk food. And nights like these were always available.

I felt like things were working out perfectly. My family situation was great; Easton just added to the great relationships we already had. School was tolerable (it was just the first week after all). Hockey season was quickly approaching, my friend situation was great and the future held so much potential.

I fell into a deep sleep watching a rerun of Say Yes to the Dress.

It was one of the best nights of sleep I had gotten in days.